Sex Week offers entertainment, education

With a condom casino and lap dancing classes on next week’s schedule, campus is about to get a whole lot sexier.

The Resident Student Association (RSA) is hosting its annual Sex Week March 18-22. This year’s arbitrarily chosen theme is road trip, something RSA vice president and middler international business major Jimmy Okuzka said is not meant to be overtly sexual. Okuzka is in charge of planning all events put on by RSA throughout the year, including Husky Hunt in the fall and Sex Week.

“It’s all about sex awareness on campus and it’s kind of just drawing attention to that and making sex less taboo of a topic and promoting safe sex and sexual awareness,” he said.

On Tuesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the Curry Student Center indoor quad, there will be a “condom casino,” where students can play casino games in which condoms take place of chips. Brendan Gerrity, a middler business major, said he attended a similar event his freshman year.

“I just remember getting free condoms and then leaving,” he said. “I didn’t feel like there was a real message behind the event, just something for fun.”

This year’s speaker will be Tiffany “New York” Pollard of VH1 reality shows “Flavor of Love” (2006) and “I Love New York” (2007-08). Each year, RSA brings in a celebrity speaker to address sex topics in a fun way. Past years’ guests have included designer Christian Siriano from “Project Runway,” comedian Heather McDonald from “Chelsea Lately” and comedian Lisa Lampanelli.
“It’s definitely going to be lighthearted. She’s never done anything like this before. That’s kind of more showing like the funner side of an otherwise touchy subject,” Okuzka said.

There will also be lap dancing lessons at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday March 21 in the Curry Student Center dance studio and sex jeopardy March 18 at 5:30 p.m. in afterHOURS.

Though some sex week events are meant to make light of a sometimes uncomfortable topic, other events address more serious issues. Detective Donna Gavin of the Boston Police Department will speak March 20 at 6 p.m. in 104 West Village G to talk about sex trafficking.

RSA also publishes an annual Sex Week Magazine complete with sex horoscopes, embarrassing sex stories and STI facts. They have also put up posters around campus.

Patrick Darcy, a sophomore electrical engineering major, said he might be interested in going to more Sex Week events if he heard more about them.

“I’ve seen Facebook statuses this year – I’ve only really seen it promoted through Facebook,” he said.

Okuzka said he hopes Sex Week is an educational and fun event for everyone.

“I hope that they think all the events are fun. I feel like they can get something out of it,” he said. “I definitely want people to go to the events and think that they’re educational and fun.”